A Brother's Sacrifice

We've gone back to the lodge and went to a room, which looked very much alike compared to a normal class. We each took our seat. Since there was no arrangement for the class seats, we could sit anywhere we want.

As always, I would sit in a spot where the teacher wouldn't notice me. The place that is suitable for a discreet sleep would be, according to me, at the back. So I took a seat at the back with some classmates who I vaguely remembered.

They only wryly smiled at me, so as to not let me know that I was not making them uncomfortable. They were quite scared of me so I ignored them.

Aki and Kinoshita were also in this room, but they were sitting in the middle row. They just said that they wanted to concentrate on their studies. So I let them be as I didn't want to affect their academic performances in a bad way.

Class lasts longer than the usual ones at school. That was pretty vexing for me. I didn't think that it would be that long. I was frustrated for some time, begging the class to be ending quickly.

After about 2 hours, my prayer was heard. The teacher announced the end of class. It seemed like tears of joy started to show up in my eyes. Even the classmate, who was sitting beside me, was looking at me strangely.

I went near Aki and Kinoshita. What I saw was unbelievable to my eyes. Their face were not ones with frustration, but were the ones with happiness, as if they have obtained 1 million ¥.

"Are you two alright!? Should I take you two to the hospital!? Did this class really ruined your mentality that badly!? As I thought, this study camp program is really bad!"

The two of them looked at me with a confused face. Aki then calmed me down by saying,

"What are you talking about? Of course, we are alright. Instead, we should be the ones who should call the doctor for you."

"As you can see I'm perfectly fine. But you two. How could you make a happy expression when we just had that frustrating class?"

"What? That's normal for us. We are aiming to have good results, not to be someone who just sits his a.s.s and thinks that getting an average result is decent."

How the hell did she read my mind!? Is she some kind of psychic!? I better get away from her!

"I'm surprised that you could withstand this class' atrocities."

This time, Kinoshita corrected my sentence.

"You mean the knowledge that we are bestowed upon from this class?"

"Not you too."

Aki looked at Kinoshita and they both smiled at each other. They are closing the gap of being acquaintances to being friends. Seeing them, that really lightened my heart a little.

"I really need some time to relax."

Kinoshita who heard me, informed me about something which intrigued me.

"Kaburagi, if you are tired, then our class are going near a river. You could let your feet be in the river. I heard that it is good as it's one way to relieve stress."

Since Kinoshita recommended me to go there, I guess that I should it a try. I hope that there is at least something here that could please me, apart from the 'Omurice' here.

....

The river was not that wide but it was quite big. All of us went near the river to see what is under this river. Fishes were swarming to the shallow ends of the river. The moment we went near it, they would disperse away from us really quickly.

I pulled up my pants up a little so as to not let it get wet. I put my feet in the water, one at a time, and it was really cold. Since Hakuba is situated in mountain regions, that's why it was this cold.

But right now I was rather feeling sublime.

"Haaaaa..."

My stress went down my feet and transferred into the freshwater of this river. That was the kind of feeling that I felt at that moment. The frustration that was in my body started to leave through my mouth as I sighed.

"This is really taking away my stress. I should listen to Kinoshita for more advice."

Letting my feet in the water, I leaned down and sat at the end of the river. My feet were left in the river and my upper body was just over on the land. Both of my hands were supporting my back as I inclined my upper body a bit to the back.

The wind carried the fresh air from the mountains to brush off my face lightly. My long hair was kind of flying away from my head, showing the forehead of my face.

My eyes were closed and I could only hear the leaves of trees rustling due to the strong winds, and I could feel the wave movements caused by the nearby fishes.

Few minutes have passed but it felt like an hour has already gone. I finally opened my eyes and saw my classmates playing around with each other. Aki and Kinoshita were also doing like me and at the same time, they chatted quite happily.

"It was the right call to come here."

....

After some time, releasing the stress that built up in class, we all went to a hot spring. Obviously, the boys and girls were separated. Some guys were disappointed and thought that it would be a mixed bath.

They even thought of hatching a plan to peep on the girls. Their faces were really scary when they were planning it. But in the end, Ryusaki was the one who stopped them. Those perverted guys were getting a long speech about their crime.

Anyway, since it was situated just near the lodge where we were staying, we didn't have to worry about walking for a long distance when returning. Me and Kinoshita went to the men's bath and entered the warm water.

We two were at the far end of the bath. It was pretty wide to fit at most 30 people. I looked at the teenagers in front of me while enjoying the warmness of the water. I took a peek at Kinoshita's figure.

"How is your family doing?"

"Fine."

A simple one word came out of his mouth.

"How's Mai. Is she bolder than before towards you?"

"...Yeah. What did you say to her?"

"I said that you changed, nothing else."

He gave me a look who had full of doubts but he resigned and he returned to his calm state.

"Say Kaburagi, if you don't mind, can you, from time to time, come over to my house?"

What? Is Kinoshita alright?

"...Did I hear that correctly? You said to me that I should come to your house frequently?"

"Y-Yes."

"Before, you were hesitant about letting me visit your house. Now you are willingly inviting me over. What's the reason?"

I calmly asked for an answer. He took some time before replying me.

"Actually, it was Machi's and Mai's idea. They were begging me to bring you over. They missed you and they weren't that lively when you left."

"So it's because of your sisters."

"Yes."

He stared at me and waited for my response.

"Alright, I don't mind coming over."

I guess it wouldn't hurt to talk to those twins. Also, it's been a while since I saw those two.

"Anything else you want from me?"

"No. This much is enough for me."

After this short exchange of words between us, we left the hot spring and went to yet, another spacious room. It seemed like a canteen. All of the students sat on tables which are arranged quite neatly.

The foods that were served were delicious, especially the curry rice that I had just now. After being satisfied with the meal, I went to the room where we were supposed to sleep.

I didn't feel like sleeping so I asked Kinoshita if he wanted to play a card game with me. He didn't know how to play so I taught him. He is pretty clever as he is a quick learner.

'Now that I remember, wasn't there supposed to be 5 students from other class who would come to this room.'

As that thought came to my mind, the sliding door opened. 5 guys were standing and scanning the room.

My mouth curved upwards seeing who was the guy who opened the door. The one person that I had least expected to come was before me.

'Maybe this program won't be so boring.'

Imai Murasaki, that was the name of the person who was in front of me, and the one who is Reika's boyfriend.